


Sounds a Lot Like Love

by SoftlyandSwiftly



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, living inside of zayns head, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-22
Updated: 2015-05-22
Packaged: 2018-03-31 16:30:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3985009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoftlyandSwiftly/pseuds/SoftlyandSwiftly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn doesn't give into this feeling often, but sometimes this is exactly what he needs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sounds a Lot Like Love

**Author's Note:**

> Working on scenes from Liam's POV from Just Let Me Know, but I couldn't stop myself from writing this. Originally posted to my tumblr.

Zayn rarely gets like this – like he’s going to split out of his own skin if Liam doesn’t hold him together. He swears fault lines are running along his veins, his heart the center of an earthquake, and he had thought that the feeling was gone.

It’s not though, not even with Liam snuggled closely to his side, not even as Zayn buries his nose in Liam’s chest and inhales. Wrapped up in his own bed sheets that smell like Liam and sex after only a few hours (and a round of slow fucking that ached along Zayn’s spine with every drag of Liam’s cock inside of him after too many days without), it’s still not enough.

Zayn still feels like he’s ripping apart slowly, and he knows exactly what will fix it. It’s what he always needs when he feels like he doesn’t want to be himself anymore – he needs to be wrapped up in Liam’s arms, cradled against Liam’s chest, held together by Liam’s grip and his faith in Zayn and his love for every single flaw that Zayn possesses. Feeling how much he’s loved is a powerful thing, and Zayn hates to admit how much he needs it sometimes.

He feels weak, craving this closeness with Liam, like he needs to be coddled. Zayn’s not archaic, though, alright? He knows that needing reassurances, that craving for Liam to hold him, doesn’t make him weak necessarily, nor is being weak a bad thing. But he’s been taught one thing his entire life, and though his father would never have pressured him into always acting strong, as the only boy Zayn grew up thinking he had to be. It’s a lifetime of acting tougher than he is, and it’s no surprise that Zayn sometimes cracks, that he needs Liam to hold him together.

And that very first time – the first time Zayn had quite literally fallen apart, gone so numb he couldn’t even cry as he’d fallen into Liam’s arms and just prayed that Liam would catch him – it startled Liam. Liam can deny it all he wants now, but Zayn knows that he took Liam by surprise because as much as Zayn loves to cuddle, this is entirely different. This is falling apart and letting Liam pick up the pieces; this is baring the weakest parts of himself like a dog exposing its neck in submission and hoping that Liam never goes for the kill. And Liam definitely hadn’t expected it, not helped by the fact that Zayn had given no warning, but he’d held onto Zayn anyways. He’d caught him and held him and said nothing as Zayn had lost and then found himself again.

That’s what Zayn needs right now, to stop existing outside of Liam and their relationship, to let Liam guide him back eventually, and Zayn knows that Liam would give it to him, no questions asked.

But Liam’s asleep right now, sprawled across Zayn’s sheets and dead to the world because he’s exhausted. He’d passed out shortly after murmuring I love you into Zayn’s flushed skin, and Zayn had joined him for a nap for a bit. Zayn’s slumber couldn’t last though, not with this feeling inside of him, but Liam deserves to sleep. He’s been travelling so much, working so hard, and Zayn had pounced on him as soon as he was in the door, so he deserves the rest.

But Zayn’s selfish, and even as he berates himself for it, he presses closer to Liam in the fading sunlight, the smooth sheets slipping over his naked skin and leaving goose bumps in contrast to Liam’s warmth. He presses until he’s nearly on top of Liam, head burying itself in Liam’s shoulder, and yet he still jumps when Liam stirs.

“Zayn.” Liam’s voice is rough, worked over from sleep and exhaustion and possibly from how deep he’d taken Zayn’s cock a few hours ago, and Zayn hates himself for loving it.

“Go back to sleep,” Zayn mumbles into Liam’s skin, letting his lips catch against it and hoping that it lolls Liam back into slumber. It doesn’t, and Zayn’s not sure if his position or his voice gives him away, but he knows immediately that Liam _knows._

(It’s amazing in a completely terrifying way, how Liam just knows sometimes).

“Zayn,” repeated with fondness so sweet Zayn’s teeth ache, and his guilt over waking Liam is almost immediately soothed by the press of Liam’s hands against his spine. “Why didn’t you say?”

Zayn shakes his head, letting his nose drag along Liam’s shoulder as he breathes in the scent that he’s only ever been able to describe as pure sunshine. (His mum calls him sunshine, but Liam’s become Zayn’s sunshine). “Wanted to let you nap. You’re exhausted babe. Y’can go back to sleep.”

“Too late.” Zayn would feel guilty over that statement if he couldn’t clearly hear the teasing note in Liam’s voice, if he couldn’t feel Liam shifting underneath him.

He lets himself go boneless as Liam moves them, lets himself be maneuvered into a sitting position as Liam hoists himself up. He refuses to move his face from the crook of Liam’s shoulder and neck though, even as his legs slide to either side of Liam’s waist, even as he settles so that he’s straddling his boyfriend, wrapped around him completely. The sheet is trapped between them, just barely covering the curve of Zayn’s ass as Liam draws his arms around Zayn.

Zayn sinks into it when Liam pulls him closer, strong arms flexing slightly as he hugs Zayn to him, and it’s so much more than an embrace. It’s a type of intimacy Zayn’s never experienced with anyone else, will undoubtedly never experience outside of Liam. Zayn’s not brave enough to let anybody else see his weakness, but he is with Liam. Always with Liam.

They settle like sand after a gust of wind, falling into the embrace with a familiarity born of practice. Zayn’s arms rest loosely over Liam’s shoulders, one hand burying itself in his hair as Liam’s head comes to rest against Zayn’s chest. Liam’s eyes slip closed as Zayn tilts his head downward, letting his neck relax as Liam’s hands trace down his spine, finally wrapping around his waist and resting there.

Liam’s sitting up completely, legs spread out over the bed, and he’s not resting against the headboard. Zayn’s sure that it can’t be entirely comfortable for him, but Liam doesn’t seem to mind. He keeps his eyes closed as he presses his face against Zayn’s bare chest, stubble scratching lightly against his skin. Liam inhales like he cherishes Zayn’s scent as much as Zayn cherishes his, and its –

It’s exactly what Zayn needed.

He knows it probably doesn’t make much sense, how he feels like Liam’s the one cradling him when he’s the one looking down on Liam, but that’s how he feels. His body relaxes immediately, letting those fault lines expand until Zayn feels himself splinter. He’s in pieces but held together by the strength of Liam’s arms, and he doesn’t need to know himself when he knows every centimeter of Liam like this.

His eyes slip closed as the fading daylight bathes them in grey light and the soft sheets cradle their limbs. Zayn’s never known contentment like this, never known love like he knows Liam. He’s exposed but covered, broken but whole, protected but protective, and maybe he craves the contrasts, but it doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t matter why he needs this or even how often he slinks into Liam’s arms searching for it. All that matters – all that has ever mattered for longer than Zayn cares to admit – is Liam.

So they rest there, in this position that screams weakness and strength, and they’ll stay this way for an hour, maybe more. They’ll stay, just like this, because it’s what Zayn wants, what he craves, what he needs, and Liam’s all of those things too. He’s so much more, beyond words, and Zayn will never be able to thank him for this, for giving Zayn these moments, for reacting like he loves it just as much as Zayn does.

 

And Liam doesn’t tell Zayn, not yet, that he’s begun to need this just as much as Zayn does. But he will. One day, when they’re wrapped up in each other once more, Liam will press a kiss over Zayn’s heart and admit that he too loses and finds himself in Zayn’s arms every single time.

And it will sound a lot like love when they laugh quietly and hold each other closer.


End file.
